The dean who approved a York University student’s request not to meet and work with female classmates on religious grounds is defending his decision, but expressing “sincere regret” that he felt he had no other choice.
Speaking out for the first time in a letter to colleagues obtained by The Globe and Mail, Martin Singer, the dean of arts, says he ordered the student’s request be granted only after “care, consideration, and concern.”
.... The student, whose identity is protected by privacy rules, is taking an online course in sociology, but the professor, J. Paul Grayson, asked students to meet in person for a mandatory group assignment. In late September, the student wrote to Dr. Grayson that “due to my firm religious beliefs … it will not be possible for me to meet in public with a group of women.” [The Globe and Mail] Read more
